Rage Against the Machine have a bit of a problem these days. Every time
they play a festival and implore people to "unite" - they riot.
At least that was the case a few weeks back at
Lollapalooza in Chicago. The band had to stop their set three times and ask people to chill out due after ugly displays in the crowd. Furthermore, hordes of people broke through barricades and rushed security in order to try and catch a glimpse of Zack and Co. A similar situation occured at the Big Day Out here in January, when Rage briefly left the stage after dickheads dangerously scaled tents in front of the stage. "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me" rings a little hollow after "Please get down". Well, it's happened again, this time in the UK over the weekend.
Rage Against the Machine had to halt their set at the Leeds festival after security asked them to pause after the crowd surged forward, crushing some fans. Says the
NME: "
The band stopped abruptly near the end of fourth track 'Bombtrack', and singer Zack de la Rocha asked the crowd to all take a few steps back. It is believed a crush was seen to be developing in the audience by
security, who informed the band of the situation in order to avoid any
injury.
Rage Against The Machine paused their set for around three minutes while the crowd moved back, then launched ferociously back into 'Bombtrack' where they had left off."
Here's photos from both the Leeds and the Reading sets. At the latter the band played their first song dressed in Guantanamo Bay-like prison outfits. Which was seen as a tribute to either the thousands of untried prisoners still languishing in US confinement or the winsome heroes of
Ghostbusters. At this stage it's unclear.
(Pics: WENN)